Niche

Presented as a part of the 2017 Darebin Arts Speakeasy season, Elbow Room bring Melbourne audiences their highly anticipated new show, Niche to the Northcote Town Hall for a limited season from 16 August 2017.

Powered by a pumping original soundtrack from Steve Toulmin and Marcel Dorney, directed by Nic Holas and created and performed by Eryn Jean Norvill and Emily Tomlins (a tiny chorus), Niche is a surreal, irreverent, and deeply affecting story about what we really want from celebrity in the digital age.

Niche takes us in into the world of its namesake, a famous pop star whose celebrity stems from hit songs about her life. Desiring to achieve the ultimate domination with her stardom, her management hires Jodee – an epidemiologist who knows about dangerous viruses – to help her.

As the lives of these two women collide, each is drawn deeper into the web of this dangerous ruse. In a world for competing egos are we in a race to the bottom or the top? Belonging is everything. Replication is more…

“The idea for Niche has been growing and evolving between Eryn Jean and myself for years,” explains Co-Artistic Director and performer, Emily Tomlins. “We create in a number of different ways. Most of the time we make each other laugh, often we challenge each other, sometimes we surprise each other and ourselves, but it’s always a joy.”

“Every time Elbow Room creates a new work, we hope it will be different to the last. There’s so much to explore in the world, why would we stay in one place?”

“This will truly be a collaboration with our whole creative team, and we’re lucky to work with some new collaborators including our Director, Nic Holas, who brings a deep knowledge of pop music and popular culture to the mix. The music of Niche is all totally original. The styles are all inspired by contemporary popular music, and they promise to be bangers.”

Forming in Melbourne in 2008, Elbow Room are widely recognised for their distinctive combination of intellectual curiosity and performative wit. Works such as We Get It, After All This, The Motion of Light in Water and Prehistoric have garnered multiple awards (including Green Room wins for writing, directing and ensemble performance), critical acclaim, sell-out seasons in several cities, and multiple presentations by festivals around Australia.

Director: Nic Holas Co-creators/performers: Eryn Jean Norvill, Emily Tomlins Sound Designer/Composer: Steve Toulmin Sound Designer/Dramaturg: Marcel Dorney Lighting Designer: Amelia Lever-Davidson Costume Designer: Emily Collett Set Designer: Owen Phillips Choreographer: Helen Duncan Production Manager: Bindi Green Producer: Samantha Butterworth